‘Broadchurch’ star David Tennant reacts to the recent casting of Jodie Whitaker in his former role of Dr. Who. He loves it.
By the way, watch Broadchurch. Holy.
ole Label Group’s Imprint Anthem Legacy To Release Definitive Max Webster Vinyl and CD Box Sets
ole Label Group announced today, September 29, 2017 will see the release of the definitive 8-disc vinyl and CD box sets, for Canadian hard rock icons Max Webster. The Party (ole Label Group / Anthem Legacy / Universal Music Canada), will feature newly re-mastered albums, exclusive unreleased studio and live songs, the long-out-of print Kim Mitchell self-titled EP and a comprehensive booklet packed with rare photos and memorabilia.
“I’ve been trying since the day I was first hired at Anthem Records over 12 years ago to re release the Max Webster catalogue and the Kim Mitchell EP. Finally seeing this happen is a thrill,” said Andy Curran, Senior Consultant – A&R, ole Label Group.”There is no other band like them, I’m a massive fan and Kim has been a huge influence on me and so many Canadian musicians…it’s about time!”
“The re-mastered records beautifully present more musical detail for your ears to chew on, as well we unearthed and mixed never heard before songs. You’ll hear different musical approaches/arrangements as we worked it out in the studio and live,” said Kim Mitchell. “We’ve included the warm sound of quality vinyl in the package. I kept thinking ‘where has some of this been for all these years’, we carefully picked moments for the box set where the band proved it was definitely strapped to a foreign rock ‘n’ roll.”
The complete Max Webster vinyl box set includes a thirty-two page booklet, filled with rare photos, quotes and memorabilia, a vintage Max Webster poster, a Universal Juveniles fan club ID card and an introductory foreword by Q107’s John Derringer. The vinyl and CD box sets include the newly re-mastered albums Max Webster, High Class in Borrowed Shoes, Mutiny Up My Sleeve, A Million Vacations, Live Magnetic Air, Universal Juveniles, Kim Mitchell EP and special edition The Bootleg which features unreleased studio and live tracks remixed by Terry Brown and Greg Wells.
Formed in 1973, Max Webster soon became one of the most original and popular rock bands in Canada. Their first three albums, Max Webster (1976), High Class in Borrowed Shoes (1977) and Mutiny Up My Sleeve (1978) achieved gold status in Canada. Their platinum selling album A Million Vacations (1979) saw the first single “Let Go The Line” reach No. 41 on the Canadian charts and the follow up “A Million Vacations” hit No. 80 in Canada. The album’s third and final single “Paradise Skies” reached No. 21 in Canada and No. 43 on the UK Singles chart. The band appeared on “Top of the Pops” in 1979 and headlined two New Year’s Eve shows at Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens. Max Webster were also close friends of fellow Canadian rock icons Rush. In a 1979 interview, Rush bassist and vocalist Geddy Lee, commented that he enjoyed their music and both bands frequently toured together in Canada, the USA and the U.K. during the 1970s. The band went on to be twice nominated for JUNO Awards for ‘Group of the Year’ in 1980 and 1981 respectively.
Listen to The Bootleg 4 Song Unreleased Teaser below
Samsung and Live Nation Team-Up to Stream Coldplay Live in Virtual Reality
Samsung Electronics America, Inc. and Live Nation will broadcast Coldplay’s “A Head Full of Dreams Tour” live in virtual reality from Chicago’s Soldier Field for the first time ever. Fans around the world will be transported to the best seats in the house to experience the band’s electrifying performance from a totally new and immersive perspective. The live broadcast will be available on Samsung Gear VR powered by Oculus through the Samsung VR service on August 17, starting at 8:30 pm CT.
From the pyrotechnics, to the laser lights and the phenomenal setlist, Gear VR users in more than 50 countries will be able to experience the magic of Coldplay’s performance at no additional cost. To tune-in, consumers will need a Gear VR headset with a compatible Samsung smartphone, and navigate to the Samsung VR service. A concert replay will also be available on Samsung VR for a limited time.
Coldplay’s “A Head Full Of Dreams Tour,” produced by Live Nation, is the No. 5 highest grossing tour of all time, according to ticket sales data reported to Billboard Boxscore. Launching in March of 2016, 5 million tickets have been sold around the world for the “A Head Full of Dreams Tour.”
Paste Music & Daytrotter Join Forces
| Paste Magazine is excited to announce a new era of amazing original music content and distribution for our readers and listeners around the world. Beginning Aug. 17, Paste Music and their sister publication, Daytrotter, will be joining forces to deliver the best music journalism to more people thanks to a unified social-media presence and a daily newsletter brimming with live performances and coverage from both Daytrotter and Paste Music. Every day on the new Paste Music & Daytrotter social platform, followers and subscribers will find an unbeatable menu of music news, reviews, features, interviews, live-streaming audio/video content from our recording studios, plus free access to the world’s largest archive of live recorded music, all in one place.
All of Daytrotter’s live streaming content—including more than 31,000 unique recordings by more than 7,000 artists going back a decade—will be available for free on pastemagazine.com/daytrotter and via Paste Music. For Daytrotter listeners who enjoy the benefits of a membership, the legacy version will continue to exist at daytrotter.com, with exclusive access to high-quality mp3 downloads, playlists and favorites. Paste Music and Daytrotter will continue to record original live performances every day from both Daytrotter’s Horseshack Studio in Davenport, Iowa, and Paste Studios in New York. Paste Music is thrilled to join forces with Daytrotter—both at PasteMagazine.com/music and PasteMagazine.com/Daytrotter, as well as on social media and in your inbox—to continue bringing you daily helpings of news, reviews and features, from investigative stories on the recording industry to profiles of both emerging and established artists, daily album and song reviews, fun lists and rankings, live-streaming concerts, and deep-dives into our unrivaled archive of live-music recordings, with hundreds of thousands of video and audio files available for free. (Ever seen R.E.M. cover the Velvet Underground? Or original footage of The Who recording in 1966? Or Miles Davis perform “Bitches Brew”? You can find them all there!) Follow them on our socials Paste Music & Daytrotter Facebook page, Paste Music on Twitter, Paste Magazine on Twitter, Paste Magazine on Instagram, Daytrotter on Twitter, and Daytrotter on Instagram! |
Elvis Presley’s Beloved White Grand Piano Goes Up for Auction
Forty years after Elvis Presley’s death, his famous white grand piano is up for auction on eBay from August 10-20. The piano, which stood in the Graceland music room for more than a decade, is expected to sell for millions. Ten percent of the proceeds from the Elvis White Piano, as the auction is listed on eBay, will go to Starkey Hearing Foundation which supports hearing health initiatives around the world.
Originally built in 1912 by Wm. Knabe & Co., the grand piano is one of the most important musical instruments in rock ‘n’ roll history. Prior to its home at Graceland, the piano was housed in Ellis Auditorium and played by musical greats including W.C. Handy, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway and many others. As the heart and soul of Presley’s music room from 1957-1969, the piano was played by Presley and his many friends for practice sessions and friendly sing alongs.
Starkey Hearing Foundation, a public charity co-founded by William F. Austin and Tani Austin, gives the gift of hearing to people in need in the U.S. and around the world. Disabling hearing loss affects more than 360 million people, including 32 million children, yet many do not have access to the hearing devices that improve lives and promote understanding. Starkey Hearing Foundation focuses on hearing health missions, hearing loss education and hearing aid recycling. Connect with Starkey Hearing Foundation on Facebook and Twitter, or visit www.starkeyhearingfoundation.org.
“At Starkey Hearing Foundation, we believe music and sound can change lives,” said Tani Austin, co-founder of Starkey Hearing Foundation. “We’re thrilled to be included in the Elvis White Piano event, as the proceeds will allow us to give hearing aids to people in need so they can enjoy music and other beautiful sounds and connect with the world around them.”
The piano is expected to draw music aficionados and collectors from all over the world. For more information on the piano, visit www.elvispiano.com. Bidding starts on eBay on August 10 at 8:00 p.m. EDT and closes at 8:00 p.m. EDT on August 20.
About Starkey Hearing Foundation
Canadian Model Turned Musician POLINA GRACE Drops Game-Changing New Single “High Enough”
Polina Grace , best-known to her over 20,000 followers on Instagram as a fashion-forward woman with brains and musical talent – releases her long-awaited single, High Enough through AMG/SONY.
Polina’s talents have developed into a knockout punch Canada has yet to see in decades, gaining over 1 million likes and shares on her social media pages to date. But it is a love of singing and music that is getting the most attention in her life.
Based in Montreal, the genuine, mature, and centred 22-year-old spent over 2 years independently recording and financing her debut album Eclectic under the wing of Vancouver-based internationally renowned music producer John Webster. Having recorded an album with a large focus on a very organic sound and soulful vocal performance, supported by real musical instruments, Ms. Grace defines her music as being a “hybrid” of all the genres that she grew up listening to and admiring—from Rock and Alternative to Soul and R&B. Polina’s goal has always been to record music that she simply loves as opposed to conforming to contemporary popular music standards.
The first buzz track, High Enough, shows her virtuosity, vocal variety and powerful presence, while highlighting her next-door charm and appeal. The basic tracks of the album were recorded at Bryan Adam’s famed Warehouse Studios, and the overdubs were created at JW Studios in Vancouver. An array of Canada’s best musicians played on the album including: Randall Stoll, Tony Marriott, Dave Corman and John Webster.
Out of the public eye, she has received a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce with a minor in Psychology from McGill University—one of Canada’s top academic institutions—Polina has as much of a business orientation as she has an ambition to perform and create. Polina is fluent in 4 languages—English, French, Russian and Spanish, has a background in dance and has been a commercially successful model since taking on modeling projects in 2016 to help self-finance her music-related projects. As she correctly states, “Music is my ultimate passion and modeling has been a helpful and fun entry-way into the entertainment world as well as a way to finance my musical dreams”.
In May 2017, Polina signed a major worldwide licensing deal with AMG/SONY, and is enthusiastically preparing to release her full debut album, Eclectic, internationally on October 13, 2017.
Listen to the buzz track, High Enough, on Spotify:
Polina Grace socials:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/polinagraceofficial
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/polinagraceofficial
Website: https://www.polinagrace.com
The Shins Performed NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert
“A kid in class passed me a tape, a band called The Jesus and Mary Chain…”
The Shins have been a constant part of NPR’s musical DNA for much of the 21st century. The group’s poetic pop has shown up in something like 25 stories on our website, not just because many of us are longtime fans, but also because our listeners love them. Stories on our site include: The Best CDs of 2003: Listeners’ Picks, The Shins In Concert from 2012, Song Premiere: The Shins And Zach Braff Reunite, a recent interview on All Things Considered and so many more. It’s remarkable that there’s never been a Tiny Desk Concert from The Shins until now.
In celebration of the band’s fifth studio album, 2017’s Heartworms, singer and guitarist James Mercer, the emotional and creative center of The Shins, came to NPR to perform a handful of songs that included two new tracks and one that reached back to 2003 from the album Chutes Too Narrow. It’s a moving performance with just James on guitar, no band, no amplification – simple and perfect.
The top songwriter in the US is…
The most successful songwriter in the US for the second quarter of the year was Kendrick Lamar, according to Royalty Exchange. But nearly half of this list of the top songwriters behind the biggest hits of the quarter aren’t performing artists like Lamar. Rather, they’re the talent that form the backbone of the music business, and deserve better recognition.
The April release of Lamar’s DAMN was the biggest debut of the year, with sales and sales-equivalent streams totaling over 600,000 units in its first week. All 14 songs on the album landed on the Billboard Hot 100 in its debut week, and many continued to chart for weeks after. So with writing credits on each track, Lamar easily replaced the Q1 top songwriter—Metro Boomin—for the April – June period.
But most of the artists who make the Billboard charts week-to-week didn’t get there by themselves. The songs that make the charts often have many co-writers and producers who rarely get the same level of attention.
Just comb through the other top 20 songwriters of the quarter. What really pops out are the many supporting songwriters and producers listed.
They include:
- Michael “Mike Will Made It” Williams II, who co-wrote three of Lamar’s songs on DAMN.
- Benjamin “Benny Blanco” Levin (credited to hits from Ed Sheeran, Camila Cabbello, Halsey, Julia Michaels, and Major Lazer).
- Justin Tranter (Imagine Dragons, Julia Michaels, Linkin Park, Maroon 5, Selena Gomez).
Others include Kiari “Offset” Cephus, Joshua “Southside” Luellen, Nana Rogues, Shane McAnally, and Adam “Frank Dukes” Feeney.
These writers/producers are just as responsible (sometimes more) for the success of the songs on Billboard’s charts as the performers themselves. But while their names may be familiar within the music business, they’re hardly household names.
More effort is needed to highlight the contributions songwriters have on the music created today. Until lawmakers and fans are more aware of the names behind the music they love, they don’t have much incentive to help make their lives better.
Royalty Exchange helps artists raise money by connecting them to private investors interested in buying royalty income. They allow songwriters (and others) to sell a stake in their royalty income in return for an upfront payment, but without having to give up their rights or creative control. You can read about some of the songwriters they’ve worked with here.